The international jury of the 2013 World Press Photo Multimedia Contest has awarded prizes in three categories: Online Short, Online Feature and Interactive Documentary. Each category holds first, second and third prizes. In addition, a Honorable Mention was given to an Interactive Documentary production.

The jury chair Keith W. Jenkins summed up “What we see in the winners this year is a high level of sophistication. The entries were uniformly high in quality. This is an evolving field that each year should and does produce higher quality projects.”

Overview of first prizes:

First prize Online Short: ‘Into the Shadows’

Photography, direction and camera: Pep Bonet, Noor Images

Producer, script and interviews: Line Hadsbjerg, Remarkable World

Summary: People from neighboring countries move to South Africa in search of a better life. In inner-city Johannesburg, many of them struggle for acceptance in the face of discrimination, but are resourceful and persistent in their hope for the future.

Summary: Fifteen-year-old Destaye and her husband spend their time working in the fields of Ethiopia and taking care of their six-month-old baby. At the time of their marriage, Destaye was 11-years old and still in school, but her husband expressed interest in letting her continue her education. Since the birth of their son, however, she has had to fulfill her duties as a wife and mother exclusively.

First prize Interactive Documentary: ‘Alma, a Tale of Violence’

Authors and directors: Miquel Dewever-Plana and Isabelle Fougère

Producers: Alexandre Brachet and Margaux Missika

Photography and camera: Miquel Dewever-Plana

Summary: For five years, Alma belonged to one of the most violent gangs in Guatemala City. She has committed murder, battery, and brutality. Brutalized herself, she has been jailed many times. With 18 murders a day, Guatemala is a country undermined by violence. Alma is typical of her generation, where youths grow up in a world in which laws and justice are flouted with impunity. Families mired in poverty, despair, and alcoholism destroy each other in gang warfare that has become an ordinary way of life – and death. She was sentenced to death by her 'homies' the day she wanted to quit the gang. Yet she survived the bullets. Although she will never walk again, she is striving to rebuild her life.

Honorable Mention, Interactive Documentary: ‘UnknownSpring’

Director and photographer: Jake Price

Art director and programmer: Visakh Menon

Summary: Unknown Spring is an immersive online anthology that chronicles a community's efforts to overcome the tsunami that struck Japan on 11 March 2011 through interactive maps, survivor interviews, video, and audio slideshows, Unknown Spring is a project that provides a portrait of Yuriage, a town that was obliterated by the tsunami's backwaters, and its residents as they try to move past their traumas and continue on with life.

The judging was conducted at the World Press Photo office in Amsterdam, where the jury viewed all the entries and discussed their merits over a period of six days. A total of 287 multimedia productions were entered in the contest, organized for the third time this year.

Jenkins explained, “For the jury, the major challenge is that the field is changing almost hourly, so figuring out what the ‘standard’ is, is a very ephemeral effort. You have to be able to articulate the specifics of what you’re looking for, but also be flexible and understand that it’s a process that’s evolving. Each year you’re looking at different things, based on the technology, the platform, and the storytelling intent of the people producing a particular work.” He continued: “Still, there are some basic journalistic things that are always going to be part of it. Integrity, narrative voice, being informative and even entertaining - all the qualities that make for good journalism still apply.”

Michiel Munneke, managing director of World Press Photo, described the organization's aims: “With the multimedia competition we are trying to do justice to what we see happening in the field. Our ambition is to inspire photographers to move forward and explore new territories. We want to challenge them to tell stories in a different, compelling way. Part of our mission is to encourage the highest professional standards in visual journalism and to support documentary storytelling in all its aspects. That’s why, amongst other initiatives we started our multimedia contest."

The first place winner in each category will be awarded a cash award of €1,500 and a Golden Eye Award. Winners of second and third prizes receive a Golden Eye Award and a diploma. The awards will be presented at the Awards Ceremony on Saturday 27 April 2013 in Amsterdam. Please visit for further information: http://www.worldpressphoto.org/event/2013-awards-days

For further information on the 2013 Multimedia Contest please visit: http://www.worldpressphoto.org/2013-multimedia-contest
During the 2013 Awards Days, World Press Photo will also present the results of a ground-breaking research project to map the global emergence and development of multimedia in visual storytelling, especially photojournalism. The project has been directed by Dr David Campbell and supported by the FotografenFederatie (Dutch Photographers Association).

The multimedia contest is set up separately from the annual photojournalism contest and the entries are judged independently by the multimedia contest jury. The results of the 56th annual photo contest will be announced on 15 February 2013. For further information please visit: http://www.worldpressphoto.org/2013-photo-contest.

World Press Photo receives support from the Dutch Postcode Lottery and is sponsored worldwide by Canon.

About World Press Photo
World Press Photo organizes the leading international contest in visual journalism. The foundation is committed to supporting and advancing high standards in photojournalism and documentary storytelling worldwide. Its aim is to generate wide public interest in and appreciation for the work of photographers and other visual journalists, and for the free exchange of information. The activities include organizing annual photojournalism and multimedia contests and global exhibition tours. The Academy programs strive to stimulate high-quality visual journalism through educational programs, grants and by creating greater visibility through a variety of publications. World Press Photo is an independent, non-profit organization with its office in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where it was founded in 1955. www.worldpressphoto.org